Bucharest, July 24 (IANS) Romanian President Nicusor Dan said Friday that Romania shot down a drone breaching its airspace in Buzau County.
He said that the authorities are conducting investigations at the scene of the incident to establish all the circumstances in which the drone entered Romania’s airspace and to identify it, Xinhua News Agency reported.
“It is important to note that the area was uninhabited, which is why the pilot was able to fire from above,” Dan added.
Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said in a press release that its radar surveillance system detected an aerial target approximately 20 km east of Sulina. The track subsequently penetrated the national airspace. An F-16 fighter aircraft of the Romanian Air Force engaged the target with an air-to-air missile and neutralised it over an unpopulated area in the vicinity of Padina, Buzau County.
Two Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, conducting NATO Air Policing Service, and two Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft were scrambled to respond to the situation.
In early June, a maritime drone self-detonated in Romania’s Constanta port, causing no casualties, Romania’s Ministry of National Defence has revealed.
A statement issued by the Ministry of National Defence detailed that the drone was not part of the equipment of the Romanian Army and was not involved in the recent exercises organised by the Ministry of National Defence in the Black Sea area.
In May, a Russian drone hit a residential building in Galati city of Romania, igniting a fire and injuring two people.
Romania summoned the Ambassador of Russia to Romania, Vladimir Lipayev, to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the incident.
Romanian Foreign Minister Toiu Oana said that the Ministry of National Defence confirmed that the drone which crashed into a residential building in Galati was of Russian origin.
The incident was condemned by several leaders across the world.
–IANS
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